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Three years have been spent in the French capital, but Barca remain keen on returning a former favourite to familiar surroundings.

Those efforts have so far come to nothing, but interest is expected to be rekindled.

Moreno says that will be the case, with the ex-Spain manager admitting that he can understand why the Blaugrana would want to re-sign a player that he once worked with during a glittering era of success under Luis Enrique.

“I would re-sign Neymar for Barcelona,” Moreno told El Transistor.

“In the end, Barcelona have to have the best players in the world and Neymar is one of them, a player who makes the difference.

“Furthermore, he makes his team-mates play.

“I know for sure that they want him.”

Moreno is currently keeping an eye on events at Camp Nou from afar, with his focus locked on a high-profile post at Monaco.

Their 2019-20 campaign has been brought to an abrupt halt, with the decision taken not to resume competitive action in Ligue 1 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

That call has not been universally well received, with Monaco being left with a ninth-place finish, but Moreno is looking to take positives from a testing situation.

He added: “On one hand, we didn’t like it because we didn’t agree on the standings and we’ve been left out of Europe, but it’s given some certainty because [the French government] has extended the measures [of banning sport] until July.

“That allows us to start pre-season in July and start the league at the end of August.”

Moreno only took the reins at Monaco in December 2019, as he succeeded Leonardo Jardim, with a first coaching post taken up since being forced to make way for the return of Luis Enrique as manager of the Spain national side.